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Black Swallowtail
Papilio polyxenes
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Twilight’s Last Gleaming Wood Ducks
We’ve been having some magnificent sunsets lately. This was last night, from the Nethermead. When I crossed over Payne Hill, I found a mess of Wood Ducks still at the far end of the Upper Pool. I went hoping for a repeat of the previous night’s phenomenon, which I heard about from two witnesses: masses…
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Winged Ones
Hymenoptera, the insect order that includes the wasps, bees, and ants, are named after their “membrane wings.” But ants don’t have wings, at least not in the colony, where such appendages would get in the way. The reproductives, males and virgin queens, however, do have wings. The queens break their wings off after mating flights…
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Coincidental Juxtaposition
A flash of yellow in a flock of House Sparrows caught my eye in the Nethermead. The bird quickly flew back down to the ground from its temporary perch. Melopsittacus undulatus, no? The same day I saw four Red-tailed hawks kettling above the Lake. Later, one flew low over the Nethermead. And then later still,…
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Webs
A complex of webs connected to a seven-foot-long horizontal piece of spidersilk. Remarkable. A view from the side of the complex, showing another web, making for one large and three satellite webs.The only spider in evidence was sucking on dinner.
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Chestnuts
American Chestnuts (Castanea dentata). Be careful handling these burrs, or pods: the spines are v. sharp! Most of the nuts produced by these young trees are scrawny, undeveloped things, quite fibrous inside, but they still seem to disappear into the maws of the squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis).This one was vocally displeased with my poaching of the…
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People’s Climate March
The march is tomorrow, Sunday, starting at Columbus Circle at 11:30. I’m posting this today because tonight at midnight I will be going on an fossil fuel fast, attempting to use the least amount of power as possible, including everything connected to the internet. Trying to shrink my small urban footprint even smaller; this is…
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Seen Recently
A male Monarch (Danaus plexippus), part of the mosaic, reliefs, and insets that make the subway station at the American Museum of Natural History so great. Last time, a female in the field.
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Dusky
A duskywing, perhaps Horace’s (Erynnis horatius), the other option being Juvenal’s (E. juvenalis). All very classical, no? The similar species overlap around here, with Juvenal’s the more northerly and Horace’s the more southerly.
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Pods and Seeds
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa).Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).The seeds of the above.Another Common, with Milkweed aphids (Aphis nerii) and Variegated Ladybugs (Hippodamia variegata).
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Backyard and Beyond 